


Lost and Found

by bugarungus



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Curses, Desert Island, M/M, Magic, Writiny Secret Santa, mermaids/mermen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:08:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 19,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28444437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bugarungus/pseuds/bugarungus
Summary: While fleeing from a shark Yeosang comes upon a strange island he's never seen, and on that island he meets Seonghwa.
Relationships: Kang Yeosang/Park Seonghwa
Comments: 11
Kudos: 57





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> A belated happy holidays to my recipient, Rosie! Please be patient as I upload all of the chapters. They are still in editing at the moment. I hope you enjoy merman Yeosang!

He’s just turned around, he has to be. There’s no other explanation. Yeosang knows these waters like the back of his hand. He knows every cave and crevice, every ripple in the sandy floor. He knows the currents and the tides. He knows where to find the tastiest snapper and the elusive eel. He knows the coastline and the trenches and the underwater volcanoes, but somehow he does not know this island.

But he  _ has  _ been swimming for hours now, ducking and dodging, trying to evade a massive shark’s jaws. It’s possible he’s just lost his bearings. Perhaps he was swimming faster than he thought, and now he’s farther from home than he expected to be. The problem is, he should be able to recognise any landmass within his territory, and this particular landmass is completely unidentifiable.

There are tall trees sprouting from the sand almost all the way down to the shoreline. The center of the island seems to be composed of one enormous rock that juts up toward the sky. Nothing grows on the rockface. It’s just bare and grey and massive. Yeosang sees no buildings on the land. There are no houses or resorts or even huts. The entire island looks completely devoid of walkers, those funny creatures who look like Yeosang’s people but without their tails. He’s heard them call themselves men, but Yeosang prefers to refer to them the way his family does.

Yeosang dips his head back under the water, surveying the reef surrounding the island. It looks normal, brimming with sea life, but it, too, is completely unfamiliar. He doesn’t recognise the shape or pattern of the coral.

There’s a sandbar twenty meters out from the reef that runs parallel to the shoreline, and Yeosang follows it around to the far side of the island where the trees finally give way to a beach. It’s more rock than sand dotted with stones and pebbles and larger boulders here and there. Some of the smaller rocks sparkle like gems in the late afternoon sun. Yeosang is positive he would have remembered seeing this.

Up near the base of the mountain he finally spots the first sign of habitation, a pile of rotting wood that has been cut with tools. It used to be a vessel of some kind. It’s long abandoned now, covered in moss and vines, but it means that walkers have been on the island at some point and might still be there, hiding in the trees.

Checking the sun’s position, Yeosang decides he has enough time to rest and watch for a bit. He’s exhausted from his encounter with the shark. He deserves a bit of a break before he tries to find his way home. He spies a crab scuttling across the ocean floor and dives down to grab it for a snack while he rests.

It has been two hundred eighty days since Seonghwa last saw another human, since he awoke on the rocky shore of this island, aching from head to toe, with the vague memory of a violent storm at sea. He’s not even a sailor. He was just out for a little row, hoping to see something interesting in the ocean, an octopus or a school of jellyfish. He saw nothing of the sort, but when the sky turned dark long before sunset, he was too far away to row back before the heavens released their fury.

He’d found his boat in pieces, shattered by the rocks it smashed against when it came ashore. He’s been surviving mostly on rain water and fruit and using the few supplies he came across in the wreckage of a larger ship that must have gotten caught in the tree roots on the far side of the island. He tries to stay away from that side of the island, though. The ground is treacherous there, with slippery roots and jagged rocks. Seonghwa nearly broke his neck climbing through the dense forest to get there.

Ash markings on the rock wall inside his little cubby cave are his only measure of how long he’s been stuck here, but he diligently makes a new mark every evening when the sun sets. He hopes it won’t be too long before someone finds him.

The funny thing is, some days the ocean looks strange, like when he wakes up he’s in an entirely different place than where he’d fallen asleep. The island never changes, but the water surrounding it just isn’t the same. It never lasts long, a day or two at the most, and Seonghwa can’t quite put his finger on what’s so different.

He also hasn't seen another ship the entire time he's been here. Even when he'd climbed the craggy rock of a mountain in the center of the island in the first week, all he could see was open water, all the way to the horizon. But that… it can't be. It's impossible. He knows he was only a few hours away from the mainland, and that's rowing speed. There's just no way he wouldn't be able to at least see where he'd come from.

No ships, no land… it's like the island exists in its own universe.

Exiting the cave, Seonghwa makes his way to the shore, stepping carefully around the rocks. There's some wood washed up on the beach. It’s nothing more than a few scrawny branches, but he carefully collects it for firewood.

As always, Seonghwa scans the ocean, hoping for some sign of humanity. As always, there are no boats, but  _ something  _ is floating a little ways off the coast. Seonghwa can't quite make out what it is, but it's bright, a spot of pale gold drifting on the surface of the water.

Seonghwa sighs. It's probably just some sun-bleached wood or a sea creature. He takes his small bundle of wood back to the cave where it can dry out and heads into the forest in search of something ripe to nibble on.

A walker, a lone walker, paces the shore, cleaning debris from the sand. Yeosang ducks under the water when the walker looks his way, only his eyes and the top of his head showing. He’s reasonably certain he managed to hide fast enough, but the walker takes a long, hard look in Yeosang’s direction before turning inland. Curious, Yeosang attempts to follow.

He swims toward the shore and around the island to where the walker disappeared into the trees. He can hardly see through the dense foliage, just a glimpse of movement here and there that could be animals or leaves blowing in the breeze. Further around the island it becomes impossible to navigate the tree roots, and Yeosang is forced to swim back out to the sandbar to give himself enough depth to hide if necessary.

Another vessel is caught in the trees here, a few feet above the water like it flew to its resting place instead of sailing there. It’s bigger than the other boat, and much more weathered, covered in sand and salt and all kinds of little green things that tend to spread and devour vessels that have run aground. Most of the wood has rotted away, revealing its bones. It’s probably been here for years rather than months, but it shows signs that it’s been disturbed recently. The crumbling cabin door has been forced open, and one of the few remaining windows has been wiped free of salt residue.

Winding his way through the roots, Yeosang finds a hidden spot to sit and watch for the walker. He doesn’t know why, but he’s sure the walker will come this way.

As the sun descends, Yeosang waits. And waits. By the time the ocean is glittering gold and reflecting the pink and orange hues of the sky, he’s almost given up. Then he hears it. A song.

It’s a simple melody, but it’s pretty, the voice crystal clear as it cuts through the wooded area around the edge of the island. It has to be the walker. Yeosang has never heard another creature sing so beautifully.

The song grows louder as the walker approaches. Yeosang can make out the lyrics now, though they don’t make any sense to him. They’re not in another language, they’re just… nonsensical. Like someone took a bunch of random words and crammed them together. But the rhythm isn’t nonsense. The words are meant to be arranged that way.

A few more minutes and the walker finally becomes visible, picking his way carefully over the slippery roots. Yeosang ducks lower, hiding most of his body behind a large fallen tree that juts out over the water. The walker’s bronzed skin and sun-bleached hair glow in the last of the daylight, and Yeosang’s tail gives an involuntary little shiver that causes a small splash behind him when the walker stops singing for a moment to smile at the sunset. His teeth are straight and white, and his lips look soft and plump. Yeosang is so entranced that he doesn’t have the wherewithal to dip under the water to hide as the walker looks his way again.

“He- hello?” the walker says. He sounds confused enough that Yeosang glances down to make sure his tail is underwater. It is.

“Hello,” he responds.

“Where did you come from?”

Yeosang looks around and points in the general direction of what he thinks is home. He hears the walker gasp, and he doesn’t realize why until he sees his own hand pointing, the webbing between his fingers clearly visible.

“I- I haven’t seen another human in… forever. Almost a year, I think. But you’re… you aren’t human, are you?”

Yeosang shakes his head very slowly. His gills lay flat against his neck when he’s out of the water, but he knows there are little shadows from the ridges in his skin. He tilts his head down in a poor attempt to hide them, but he knows it’s too late. The walker has already seen everything but his tail.

“What are you?”

The walker moves closer, stepping over a rock and onto a root, leaning down until he’s only a few feet away, and Yeosang panics. He darts under a root down into the water, splashing the walker as his tail flips against the surface behind him, and he weaves through the murky shallows out into open water as fast as he can swim. It’s dark below the surface. Yeosang realizes it’s because the sun has finally set completely, but he can still see. The sandbar is just ahead. Though he’s probably already a safe distance from the walker, he keeps going, wanting to clear the sandbar before he stops.

But just as he’s about to reach his goal he becomes… confused. He turns around, sees the island and the walker and turns to swim again, but he forgets where he’s going when he faces the sandbar. Questions fill his mind.  _ Where is he? What was chasing him? Was it the shark still? How did he get here? _

Surfacing, Yeosang sees nothing but clear, dark water before him. There are no islands or inlets anywhere around. Behind him is the island he fled, he remembers now, but when he dips down to swim again… his brain goes fuzzy.

“Come back!” the walker shouts. “I won’t harm you. Just come back.”

Knowing he has no choice, Yeosang turns and swims back toward the island.

The creature keeps his distance, swimming only to the furthest root from shore before asking, “Where am I? What is this place?”

He sounds lost and scared, and Seonghwa wishes he’d come closer so that he could offer comfort.

“I don’t really know,” Seonghwa admits. “I’ve been here for some time. No one comes here, and I can’t leave.”

“Is it magic?”

“I don’t know,” Seonghwa repeats. “Maybe it  _ is _ magic. A curse perhaps? I wish I could tell you, but I really have no idea.”

“I need to get home,” the creature almost cries, worrying his lower lip with teeth so sharp Seonghwa sees blood beading on the skin. “My family will come looking for me. You can’t keep me here!”

“I’m not,” Seonghwa insists. Swears. “I have nothing to do with this. I’m stuck here as well. I can’t leave any more than you can.”

“Why?” Now he does cry, big, thick tears dripping down his cheeks.

“I don’t know, I’m sorry. I- I just don’t know.”

Seonghwa feels like crying, too. His heart aches seeing this beautiful creature fall apart in front of him.

“I have some food. It’s not much, just some fruit, but-”

“I can find my own food,” the creature interrupts. “I eat fish. There are plenty of fish out here.”

“Okay. I’m going to go eat, then. You can come around to the other side of the island with me or stay here. It's your choice, but please don’t try to swim out again. It might drive you mad.”

Seonghwa has tried before. He wasn't actually attempting to escape. Where would he go anyway? There's no land within swimming distance. But he did swim out one day, hoping he would find some fish to eat, if he could even catch one. He only made it almost to a tall ridge in the sand before he forgot what he was doing and had to return to shore.

"Meet you on the other side," Seonghwa repeats, cocking his head toward the trees before turning and carefully finding his way back to the sandier side of the island.

The creature is there when Seonghwa emerges on the shore, as far away as he can get without forgetting where he is. He's floating there, head bobbing just above the surface. Seonghwa holds up a small melon from a patch he'd found earlier, showing it to the creature, and then he smashes it open on a large rock.

The creature flinches, but when Seonghwa takes a bite he swims a little closer.

"What is it?" he asks.

"I'm not sure," Seonghwa answers, slurping juice before it can run down his arms. "It's a little like a cantaloupe, but I've never seen a red cantaloupe. I'd say watermelon, but it doesn't taste like watermelon and the seeds are wrong."

"What's can't elope?"

Seonghwa laughs. "It's a sweet fruit. It has a soft skin, and it's usually pale orange inside. This one looks a little like it's bleeding, don't you think?"

The creature nods and dips his face under the water almost to his eyes. It looks like he's trying to hide a smile.

"You can have some if you want. There's plenty."

For a moment Seonghwa thinks he's offended the creature as he dives completely beneath the surface, but he comes back up moments later with something wiggling between his webbed fingers. He bites the head right off the fish with his razor sharp teeth, and Seonghwa can hear bones crunching as he chews.

He holds out the rest of the fish, offering it to Seonghwa, but Seonghwa just shakes his head and takes another bite of the melon. "Sushi isn't really my thing," he says, and the creature tilts his head to the side. "It's raw fish and rice," Seonghwa explains before he can ask. "It's not bad, but usually people at least remove the scales first."

"We eat them whole," the creature says. He demonstrates by shoving the rest of the fish into his mouth, only the spiny end of the tail still sticking out from his closed lips. A moment later he spits the tail back into the water and grins at Seonghwa with a mouthful of fish guts between his teeth.

"Very impressive. You can come closer. So we don't have to shout at each other."

The creature hesitates, looking behind him at the barrier between the island and the outside world. He must still be scared, but he swims closer anyway, cautiously approaching the shore and stopping when the water is too shallow for him to do more than lie on his belly with his hands propping him up in the sand, a shimmering pearly purple tail swaying in the water behind him.

"I'm Seonghwa, by the way. Might as well introduce ourselves since we're stuck here together. What's your name?"

"I am called Yeosang. My family will come searching for me. Soon."

"I'm sure they're already looking," Seonghwa says sadly. "I just don't know if they'll actually see you. This place… it's not right. Nothing comes here."

"I come here. If I can find it, so can they."

"I don't think it works that way, Yeosang. I think the island is invisible to outsiders. Or at least it is most of the time. I think we're in another dimension."

"My family will come," Yeosang insists. "They will find me and guide me home."

"I hope so," Seonghwa says, wishing he could be so sure of his own rescue.


	2. Two

No one comes for Yeosang during the night. Long after Seonghwa returns to his cave to rest, Yeosang floats around the edge of the barrier, just far enough from the sandbar to keep his wits.

No one comes, and by sunrise Yeosang notices something even more peculiar. There is nothing at all beyond the sandbar, no fish or other sea life. It's just blank open water.

No one comes the next day. Seonghwa brings another melon to the shore and watches Yeosang watching the horizon. He sighs often, and Yeosang wants to turn around and tell him to just go away, but he’s afraid he’ll miss his rescue.

No one comes for a whole week. Yeosang catches the fish that swim around him and snacks on them as he keeps his vigil. He circles the island occasionally, remaining just inside the sandbar, but he mostly stays on Seonghwa’s side of the island because he’s pretty sure his home is beyond the barrier in that direction.

“Someone should have come,” he tells Seonghwa after a full eight days of waiting. “Wooyoung or San. Wooyoung  _ and  _ San. My parents. My sister. They should have come. Why haven’t they come.”

“They can’t,” Seonghwa replies sadly, as if it’s just that simple, but Yeosang still doesn’t understand. The island and the water around it defy everything Yeosang knows about the ocean. The ocean is like air. If a bird can fly freely anywhere it wants to go, then why can’t Yeosang swim past that sandbar?

“I’m hungry,” he grumbles, knowing it’s pointless to argue about something he doesn’t understand.

“Then go find a fish,” Seonghwa laughs.

“I’m tired of fish.”

“I thought it was all you ate.”

“We eat other things,” Yeosang scoffs. “We eat sea stars and jellyfish and squid. There’s nothing here but cod, and they’re just babies. I need something different. Something bigger.”

Seonghwa doesn’t respond. He stands and walks away, probably annoyed with Yeosang’s attitude.  _ Yeosang  _ is annoyed with Yeosang’s attitude. He’s tired of feeling annoyed.

The sun begins to set, and Yeosang wishes he could enjoy the beauty of the sky. The pink and orange reflect off of the water and cast a magical glow on everything, but that only reminds him of the evil magic that has him trapped. He feels like a fish in a tank, swimming in circles for the amusement of some larger being.

“Here,” Seonghwa says, startling Yeosang and making his tail jerk. He’d been so lost in his head he hadn’t noticed Seonghwa splashing as he waded out to Yeosang. He’s holding another melon, or half of one, already smashed open. The juice from the bright red flesh is dripping down his wrist and off of his elbow. “It’s safe, I promise. It’s sweet.”

Yeosang can smell it even from halfway out in the water. It makes him drool a little. Cautiously, he floats toward Seonghwa, only getting close enough to reach for the fruit before he retreats to a safe distance. It smells even better up close, fresh and tempting. The hollow center is lined with little white seeds and filled with clear red juice that sloshes when Yeosang moves. He sips the juice. It tastes like nothing he’s ever eaten before.

Most of Yeosang’s diet is meat, whether it’s fish or other sea life. His kind rarely eat plants of any sort. He’s tasted kelp (it’s awful, not recommended), and once when he was near a different shore a tree dropped something hard and round nearly on top of his head that Wooyoung said was safe to consume, but it was dry and tasteless and difficult to chew. Wooyoung had laughed at him when he tried to spit it out only to find tiny pieces of it stuck in his cheeks. He had to rinse his mouth repeatedly to get it all out. This fruit is completely different. It seems to melt as he bites into it, pouring more of the sugary juice onto his tongue and into the webbing between his fingers.

“Dip it in the water,” Seonghwa tells him. “The salt makes it taste even sweeter.”

Yeosang does as Seonghwa suggests, and every taste bud in his mouth lights up with the flavor. It’s  _ new _ and  _ home _ combined. Yeosang devours the entire piece of melon in just a few minutes and even licks the juice from his hands.

“I have nothing to give you in return,” Yeosang says when all he has left is a hollowed pale green hull.

“I have a fire. Catch me one of those cod. I’ll find a way to clean it, and then I can cook it.”

Yeosang might have lied about the cod. Actually, there are probably exactly zero cod around the island. They prefer deeper water with a floor of pebbles. There are some better fish that Yeosang could find if he swims around to the other side of the island, but what he sees in abundance beneath his tail are crabs. He dives down and grabs a pair of them before swimming almost all the way to Seonghwa underwater, surfacing just a few feet away.

“Shit!” Seonghwa exclaims when Yeosang shakes the water out of his hair. “You scared the hell out of me! I thought you’d gone around to the ship.”

Yeosang laughs softly, offering a squirming, pinching crab to Seonghwa.

“Oh! Oh I- Didn’t I say fish?”

“Technically you said cod, but there aren’t any here. I can put them back if you don’t want them.”

“No, no. I can… find a way to cook these too. Not sure how I’m gonna keep them from walking right out of the fire, but I’ll figure it out.”

Seonghwa does find a way, and that night they both feast on crab and strange melons.

It comes as a great relief to Seonghwa that Yeosang seems to finally accept his situation. Or at least he ends his lookout for the rescue he so believed would be imminent. Though Seonghwa still catches Yeosang’s gaze drifting toward the horizon, he now spends his time closer to the beach, conversing with Seonghwa and sharing stories about his life in the ocean and the friends he swims around with.

There’s his sister who used to take him exploring. They would search sunken ships together and examine the human artifacts inside.

“Sometimes there were… bodies inside too. Just bones, really, but we knew they were walker bones because they didn’t have tails.”

Then he talks about his friends, Wooyoung and San, who seem to be troublemakers, if you ask Seonghwa. Yeosang says that they like to hassle the bigger sea creatures, sharks and the like, and the three of them often have to split up to avoid being swallowed whole.

“It’s not really  _ that _ dangerous. We swim a lot faster than other animals, and we’re able to slip through small passages and into dark caves where they can’t follow. It’s fun, but it will wear you out.”

Seonghwa discovers that this is how Yeosang ended up finding the island. An encounter with a shark led to a chase, and when the shark chose to follow Yeosang instead of his buddies, he wound up fleeing further from home than usual.

“I know which direction I came from, but none of it looks the same now.”

“I think that’s part of the curse,” Seonghwa says. “I never see any ships or anything out there, and I know we’re not that far from humanity. It’s like we’re in a bubble. We can’t see anything beyond the bubble, and no one outside can see in. Your friends could be just on the other side and they wouldn’t even know we’re here.”

Yeosang cries when Seonghwa explains his theory, but Seonghwa knows that there’s hope.

“We both got through the bubble somehow. That means others might be able to get through as well. It’s just a question of how long we have to wait.”

“But I don’t want to wait,” Yeosang pouts, his tail flipping in the water like an annoyed cat.

“It’s hard to be patient, but what else can we do? There’s some kind of spell around the barrier. I know you’ve felt it. The harder you try to leave the more confused you get. I’m afraid if we try too hard it’ll drive us crazy.”

Yeosang stops arguing about it after this. Either he knows Seonghwa is right, or he’d just rather not fight with the one person he has for company.

“I’ve been here almost a year,” Seonghwa confesses one night. The moon is just a sliver in the sky, the waves a constant soft swish in the background. Yeosang is floating on his back, so close to the shore that his tail is barely covered, but he rolls over when he hears Seonghwa speaking.

“Do you have friends back home, too?”

“Mm, a few. Hongjoong has been my friend since we were kids, and I work with a guy named Jongho. We used to spend time together, go out for drinks and stuff.”

“They’re nice?” Yeosang whispers, almost too quietly to be heard above the whoosh of the waves.

“Yeah,” Seonghwa smiles. “They’re nice. Good company. Goofy as hell, but good people.”

Yeosang nods, but he stays silent for a long few moments, bobbing in the water. Finally he turns around, slipping further away where the water is deeper.

“I hope you get to see them again someday,” he says, and he ducks under and disappears.

“Yeah,” Seonghwa sighs, standing to move toward his cave. “I hope so, too.”

Seonghwa spends most of his day out of sight. Yeosang isn’t sure where he goes, but as soon as he finishes his breakfast he vanishes into the woods and doesn’t emerge for more than half the day. Yeosang has tried to locate him. He circles the island, even creeping up into the tangled mess of roots and muck on the far side, but he can’t even hear any signs of Seonghwa moving around beyond the trees.

When evening comes Seonghwa will return from wherever he’s been covered in dirt and vegetation, especially on his hands, with a melon or some berries or occasionally a small animal to skin and cook. Yeosang never asks where he’s been until one night when Seonghwa is late.

There’s an awful racket sometime after Yeosang expects him to be back. It sounds like something big slowly making its way through the forest. Something big and clumsy. Yeosang can see the trees moving. The smaller ones bend to accommodate whatever the thing is while the bigger ones just rattle and shake, leaves rustling as birds flee from the disturbance.

Finally he sees Seonghwa dragging the big something out to the beach. It’s a group of small trees all lined up side by side and tied together with what must be vines.

“What is that?”

“It’s a raft,” Seonghwa explains. “It’s not finished. I need to find something to seal it, and it might need to be a bit wider, but I was afraid if I didn’t bring it out now I wouldn’t be able to pull it through the trees.”

“What is it for?”

Seonghwa smiles as he rinses his hands in the ocean. “Escape,” he says. “I might be able to get home on it if I can find a way to make an oar. Mine was lost when I landed here.”

“But how will you get out?”

“I’ll just wait for the right time. I told you, the barrier opens sometimes. That’s how we got in. If we can get in when it’s open I don’t see any reason why we can’t get out, too. Care to go find us some crab for dinner? It’s getting late, and I didn’t have time to hunt or gather.”

“Sure, honey,” Yeosang nods. “Be right back.”

He flips into the water, slapping his tail against the surface and probably splashing Seonghwa significantly, and he’s halfway to the sandbar before he realizes what he’s said. He almost doesn’t want to go back with the crabs, he’s so embarrassed, but it felt so natural to say it.

Yeosang has spent half of his life watching Wooyoung and San’s relationship shift from friendship to something more, and he remembers how easily pet names and endearments slip from their tongues. He’d never quite understood how they swapped one day from calling each other by their names to using the words  _ sweetie  _ or  _ darling. _ Now he gets it.

Becoming comfortable with Seonghwa has led to Yeosang letting his guard down, and though they don’t really know each other that well, being each other’s only company gives them a sense of closeness. With Seonghwa, Yeosang can speak freely about nearly anything that comes to mind. He can be vulnerable. Seonghwa has already seen him at his worst, terrified and panicked to the point his behavior is irrational, and now that his sanity has returned they often speak candidly about personal matters under the stars.

Yeosang hasn’t considered a romantic connection between them. Why would he? Seonghwa is a walker. They’re not even the same species. But Yeosang can’t deny that he’s noticed how attractive Seonghwa is. From the waist up he’s basically everything Yeosang would look for in a partner. Even his personality meshes well with Yeosang’s. It’s just... the legs.

As much as he hopes Seonghwa will just let it go, he knows by the look on Seonghwa’s face when he resurfaces that it won’t happen. There’s a smirk sitting on his lips, and he looks… very smug.

“Thank you, sweetheart,” he purrs when Yeosang hands over the crabs, and Yeosang can tell he’s going to be insufferable for the rest of the night at least. “I’ll go cook these up, dear.”

“Shut up,” Yeosang mumbles. “It was an accident, okay? Could you just let it go?”

Seonghwa throws his head back and cackles. The action is more teasing than amused, and Yeosang doesn’t find it very funny.

“You mean I’m not your honey?” Seonghwa asks. “I’m so disappointed. I haven’t gotten laid in nearly a year.”

The second the words leave Seonghwa’s mouth his face momentarily goes completely blank. He shakes his head to collect himself before giving a nervous half laugh.

“I don’t know why I said that.”

“Probably because it’s true,” Yeosang points out. “It’s not like you have a lot of opportunities here.”

“Sure, I guess I just hadn’t thought about it much before.”

“Until now. Because… because of me?” Yeosang really hates how hopeful the question sounds. It’s still ridiculous. They’re still different species. Seonghwa still has fucking legs.

Seonghwa shrugs. “I suppose I’m lucky I got stranded here with you and not some absolute troll. You’re very pretty. Pretty tail, pretty scales. Pretty smile.”

Yeosang can’t fight the smile that creeps onto his face hearing this. It’s flattering, sure, but it’s also the way Seonghwa mentioned his tail and scales, not like they’re unusual features he’s never seen before, like they’re more attractive  _ because _ they’re unusual. He says it like tails and scales are completely normal, everyday features and Yeosang’s in particular also happen to be attractive. Yeosang almost feels bad that he can’t compliment Seonghwa’s legs in return. They just seem alien to him.

“You have nice lips,” he says instead, immediately regretting it as it encourages Seonghwa to pucker them and blow Yeosang a kiss. He also hates how it makes him wish Seonghwa was out in the ocean with him, kissing him for real. Seonghwa laughs again.

“You’re ridiculous,” Yeosang tells him. “Go cook the food. You were late, and I’ve been waiting on you to eat.”

Seonghwa does as he’s told and puts the crabs over the coals of the fire, placing a heavy rock on top of each of them so they can’t crawl away.

Crab takes longer to eat than it does to cook. In no time at all Seonghwa is carrying one out to Yeosang, dipping his fingers in the water to cool them off after he’s handed it over. Yeosang can easily bite right through the shell, but he watches Seonghwa carefully crack the claws open and pick out the meat with his fingers.

“The moon is almost full,” Seonghwa comments between bites. “I love looking at the sky. It’s the only thing that feels the same here as it did at home, minus the light pollution.”

“A couple more days,” Yeosang replies, ignoring how homesick Seonghwa sounds. “My family has a celebration every full moon. My sister sings, and everyone dances.”

“Mermaids dance?”

“Not the same way walkers do, but yes. It has the same feeling as dancing on land. It’s just more… swishy.”

“And you like to dance?” Yeosang nods. “Show me.”

“I can’t  _ show  _ you. It happens under water.”

Seonghwa stands and wipes his hands on his pants. “Then I’ll come into the water. Show me.”

He’s already halfway out in the ocean before Yeosang realizes he’s serious. “I- I’d need a partner.”

“Then dance with me,” Seonghwa shrugs. “Come on.”

Their positions have swapped, Yeosang floating just near the shore and looking out at Seonghwa as he treads water. It feels entirely different, and Yeosang knows it’s because he can’t see Seonghwa’s legs. Right now, he might as well have a tail  _ (it would be red,  _ Yeosang thinks,  _ with little fire opal scales mixed in) _ and that thought _ does things _ to Yeosang.

Yeosang can feel Seonghwa’s feet kicking as he swims out to meet him. Logically, he knows they’re feet. They don’t flip as a single appendage like his tail does. The pattern of the water moving past his tail alternates sides, but when Yeosang puts his arm around Seonghwa and steadies him, the kicking stops, and it’s easy for Yeosang to pretend.

“Is it like human dancing?” Seonghwa asks, breathing in Yeosang’s face. “Do we… hold each other like this?”

“Yes,” Yeosang whispers. His hands tremble against Seonghwa’s shoulder and back as he pulls them closer. He’s never been so nervous about dancing before, but then his partner is usually his San or Wooyoung. Or both. They don’t really like to be separated. And they’re both mermen like Yeosang. They both know how water dancing works.

With a deep breath for courage, Yeosang begins swirling them around in the water. It’s more difficult with only one tail moving two bodies, but his tail is strong enough to handle it. They spin and twirl and float, and Yeosang watches Seonghwa’s face as his lips spread into a carefree smile.

Seonghwa holds onto Yeosang’s shoulders so tight his fingers leave imprints on Yeosang’s skin. He tries to hum a waltz, but a lot of the notes get lost in the sound of sloshing water and a bit of choking when Yeosang gets carried away and dips them under without considering the fact that Seonghwa can’t breathe down there.

“Sorry,” he says, but Seonghwa is laughing again.

“Just warn me next time. Take me down. I want to see what it’s like. I can hold my breath for about a minute.”

“But it’s salt water. You won’t be able to open your eyes.”

“Then I’ll feel it instead. Come on. Take me down.”

Yeosang waits for Seonghwa to fill his lungs, and then he drags him below the surface to spin them around some more. Seonghwa taps Yeosang’s shoulders when he needs another breath, and when they surface his hair is all wet, slicked back from his forehead, moonlight shining in the drops of water running down his face. He’s stunning.

“Again,” Seonghwa insists, and Yeosang obliges, this time jetting them halfway around the island instead of attempting to dance. They come up near the floating ship, and Seonghwa gasps when he realizes where they are.

“I’ll take you back. I just wanted you to see what it’s like to swim as fast as a fish.”

“It’s amazing,” Seonghwa tells him, grinning ear to ear. “I’m actually a bit jealous.”

One of Seonghwa’s legs is hooked around Yeosang’s tail, resting in the curve, and despite the fact that the water is shallow enough for him to stand, he doesn’t let Yeosang go. In fact, it feels like Seonghwa holds him closer.

“I want to kiss you,” Seonghwa confesses. One of his hands has drifted down below the water, carefully stroking the scales on Yeosang’s hip. “You’re so- so pretty, Yeosang. You’re so pretty and I want to kiss you.”

“Then kiss me,” Yeosang says. He’s shaking again, so nervous, but he can’t help wondering if Seonghwa’s lips feel as soft as they look, if he tastes as sweet as his voice sounds.

“Yeah?” Seonghwa breathes, and before Yeosang can respond Seonghwa’s hand slides up to his neck, holding Yeosang gently as he brings their lips together. It’s a delicate kiss, a soft press of their lips that neither of them moves to deepen, but it turns Yeosang’s world upside down.

He’s kissed other mermen before, and mermaids as well. He knows the hungry biting kisses associated with lust, sharp teeth tearing at his lips in a frenzy as hands roam over bodies. He’s had shy, inexperienced kisses that end in blushing giggles. He’s kissed San and Wooyoung before, a mistake that none of them will ever speak of or repeat.

This kiss though, with Seonghwa… It feels like more than lust and youthful experimentation. It feels like something blooming inside him, and Yeosang doesn’t know whether to encourage it or chop it down before it fills his whole heart.

“I can take you back now, if you want,” Yeosang offers, and Seonghwa takes another deep breath puffing out his cheeks to show Yeosang he’s ready to go.

Yeosang gets one more kiss on his forehead before Seonghwa releases him and swims back to shore that leaves his face uncomfortably warm as he returns to deeper water.


	3. Three

“So tell me again why we’re over here?” Yeosang yells from below the floating ship. Seonghwa has to bang around inside for a few more minutes before he can reach the window to yell back.

“I need something to cut with. Or chop. Or… smash. I don’t know. I need a tool. This is the best place on the island to find something like that.”

“And why am I here?”

“Because I might need someone to carry it back. It’s not safe to carry stuff over the roots. Now be patient while I look around.”

Seonghwa picks his way back through the junk in the room, climbing over a toppled bookshelf filled with moldy paper and ducking under a fallen beam. He remembers seeing a trap door in here somewhere that would lead down into the bowels of the ship, but he can’t find it anymore.

It doesn’t matter, though. He finds what he’s looking for without heading down below. Light pours through the dirty, salt encrusted windows as a cloud blows by, and something metal glints at him from the far corner. It’s a blade, the blade of an axe.

The tool is a little rusty, upon close examination, but the handle is sturdy, not rotting like everything else in the ship. It’s not like he’ll be using it on his food, so a bit of rust shouldn’t be a problem. He tosses it toward the door and climbs back through the room to the exit.

“Found it!” Seonghwa shouts when he finally emerges. He watches where his feet are as he descends back into the tangle of roots and rocks, but apparently he’s not watching well enough. His foot slips on some kind of slimy goo coating a rock, and his legs go completely out from under him.

He doesn’t even scream as he falls. He gasps and braces for the impact of something sharp and knobby against his back, but it’s not what’s beneath him that ends up doing the damage. It’s the very thing he came for in the first place, the axe. It flies from his hands as he goes down, and lands blade first in the side of his thigh.

“Fuck.  _ Fuck!  _ Seonghwa, are you okay?”

Seonghwa can hear splashing as Yeosang weaves through the maze of muddy roots to get to him, and when he turns his head to see how far away Yeosang is he glimpses the shimmery purple tail smacking against the surface.

“I don’t know,” Seonghwa squeaks, panicked. “I don’t know, is it bad? Can you tell?”

“I can’t see. Your clothes are in the way, fuck. What should I do?”

Yeosang’s hands are on the axe, and Seonghwa has to stop him before he pulls it out, knowing it might be the only thing keeping him from bleeding out.

“Just help me sit up. I need to see it before we can move it.”

Yeosang clumsily offers his hand so that Seonghwa can pull himself upright, and it’s immediately clear that it’s not as bad as he expected.

“It’s not in my skin, right? That’s just my pants and the root there. It just sliced me on its way down.”

“Yeah. Yeah, I think so. Is that good?”

“Yeah,” Seonghwa grimaces, finally feeling the impact of the fall in every bone in his body. Everything aches already, and he knows it’s just going to be worse tomorrow. Not to mention he can’t assess how deep the cut is without taking his pants off, which is not something he particularly wants to do in front of Yeosang.

“Can you just take me back to the beach? I can’t… can’t do this here. I need to be somewhere flat.” And private.

“Okay, come here,” Yeosang says, and Seonghwa nearly rolls his eyes because he can’t really  _ go _ anywhere, but Yeosang doesn’t wait for him to move. He starts dragging Seonghwa, rather painfully, down off the roots and into the water.

When the salt hits the open wound in his leg Seonghwa screams, only cut off when his head slips underwater. He almost inhales a deep lungful of water before Yeosang pushes him back up enough to take a breath.

“Some of these spots are kinda tight. I’m not sure whether it’s better to go through first and pull you after or if you should try to push yourself over them.”

“Do whatever you have to do. Please, just get me out of here.”

Yeosang does his best to get Seonghwa out without causing any more injuries. He gets stuck under a root at one point, and Yeosang wrenches his arm so hard to free him before he drowns that Seonghwa thinks his shoulder might be dislocated.

Unlike last night, when they’re finally free of the trees, Yeosang carries Seonghwa back to the shore slowly, holding his head above water the whole time. It feels like it takes forever, but Seonghwa doesn’t complain. He’d’ve been fucked without Yeosang’s help.

When they finally get back to the beach, Yeosang pulls Seonghwa as far up as he can before telling him that’s all he can do.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t get both of us all the way up on the sand. Can you get yourself out of the water?”

“Yeah, but could you do me one more favor? Go back to the other side and get the axe. I still need it.”

Seonghwa  _ does  _ still need the axe, or he will when he’s healed and able to work on the raft again, but more than that he needs Yeosang to be somewhere else while he removes his pants to check his leg.

“Now? But I think you might be bleeding.”

“I can take care of it, don’t worry. Just go get the axe before it gets dark. I’ll take a look at how deep it is while you’re gone.”

Yeosang goes, hesitantly, and the moment he disappears around the side of the island Seonghwa unbuttons his pants and pushes them down to his knees.

The wound isn’t deep. It’s not much more than a bad scratch, really, though it is still bleeding a little. He rips a piece off the bottom hem of his shirt to wrap it up and cleans it with the salt water. It’s not ideal, but it’s better than potentially having rust and whatever else the axe has collected left in the wound. He tries to remember when his last tetanus booster was, but then he pushes the thought away. There’s nothing he can do about it from here.

By the time Yeosang returns, Seonghwa has his cut all bandaged and his pants securely back in place. He’s pretty sure he can walk if he can get his feet under himself. Yeosang gives him a hand to push himself up, but the moment he puts weight on the other leg a searing pain shoots from his ankle all the way to his hip.

“Fuck!” Seonghwa shouts as he crumples back into the water with a splash.

“What? What’s wrong? What happened?”

“It’s- oh shit, I don’t think it’s broken, but I’ve sprained it or something.”

“Sprained what?”

“My ankle.”

“What’s an ankle?” Yeosang asks frantically.

“Oh, for the love of- calm down! It’s the joint, where my foot meets my leg. It’s like a wrist but in my leg.”

“Oh. You’re sure it’s not broken?”

“I don’t think-” Seonghwa groans as he flexes his foot. It hurts, but nothing like the pain of a break. “No, it’s not broken, but I don’t think I’ll be able to walk on it for a while.”

“A while? How long is a while?”

“A few days, maybe a couple of weeks.”

“Weeks?” Yeosang screeches.

“Yes, weeks. Maybe less, though.”

“How are you going to get food?”

“I guess you’ll have to bring it to me,” Seonghwa replies, slightly annoyed that  _ this _ is Yeosang’s main concern.

“But I can’t cook and you don’t like sushi!” Yeosang yells. His hands are buried in his hair and he looks seconds from just pulling out a whole handful of it.

“Yeosang, calm down. It’ll be okay. It’ll heal faster if I rest it, but I’m not  _ helpless. _ With a good stick I can make it to the melon patch and back, no problem.”

Though he still seems to be freaking out a little, Yeosang does calm down quite a bit hearing this.

“I’m sorry. I just… I don’t know how to take care of a walker.”

Seonghwa laughs. “I’m a human, Yeosang, not a walker. And you don’t have to take care of me, really. I can figure it out. I’ll spend my time in the melon patch if it hurts too much to walk back. It’ll be okay.”

Yeosang doesn’t quite seem convinced, but he lets it go, swimming away for a bit. Seonghwa thinks he probably just needs the water to relax.

Scooting across the sand with his hands and one foot, Seonghwa gets himself over to the fire pit and tries to get a fire going. If Yeosang happens to come back with fish, Seonghwa wants to be ready to cook it.

Though Seonghwa’s injuries seem to heal much faster than Yeosang expected, he still makes a fuss over Seonghwa, reminding him repeatedly not to walk anywhere and bringing him more crabs and fish than they can actually eat. He finds a tree around the side of the island that has some kind of green fruit hanging from it, too, but Seonghwa explains that green means it’s not ripe yet so he leaves them in the tree.

About three days after his fall the cut on Seonghwa’s leg has already scabbed over, and he’s found a way to hop across the beach on his good foot. He can’t get into the woods to do anything useful, but he collects as much wood from the beach as he can and finds a stick sturdy enough to use as a cane. Yeosang wishes he would just sit still, but as long as Seonghwa isn’t putting any weight on the foot he lets it go.

“The sky is different,” Seonghwa says as they lie in the sand that night. “Full moon.”

“What does it mean?”

“I’m not sure, but I think you should check the barrier in the morning.”

Yeosang rolls over, propping himself on his elbows so that he can look at Seonghwa’s profile in the moonlight. “We can’t leave right now. You’re still healing, and I’m not sure how far I can swim carrying you.” Truthfully, if Seonghwa were able to breathe underwater it wouldn’t be a problem, but it’s more difficult to swim on the surface. Not to mention that Yeosang has no idea how far they are from where Seonghwa lives.

Seonghwa turns his head toward Yeosang, and there’s a smile on his face, but it’s not a happy smile.

“I didn’t say  _ we _ could leave. I meant  _ you.” _

“But Seonghwa-”

“I’ll be fine here by myself. I’ve been here a long time now. I know how to keep myself alive without you.”   
“But your foot-”

“Will heal even if you aren’t here to take care of me. It’ll be okay, Yeosang. I promise.”

Yeosang wants to shout that it won’t be okay, that he won’t leave Seonghwa alone, that it’s wrong to even consider it, but he knows Seonghwa is right. If there’s an opportunity to leave, even if only one of them can go, they need to take it. Yeosang would rather it be Seonghwa, but that’s just not possible right now. It has to be Yeosang.

“I’ll come back for you. I’ll go get Wooyoung and San and we can take you home.”  _ Oh. _ Yeosang hadn’t realized that would hurt so much, the thought of Seonghwa going home without him. He hadn’t realized how badly he wants to stay with Seonghwa, even if it’s just here on the island.

“I know,” Seonghwa tells him, scooting closer and brushing his fingers over Yeosang’s hand. He tries to lace their fingers together, but the webbing is in the way, so he wraps his fingers around Yeosang’s whole hand and squeezes gently. “I know.”

They fall quiet again, watching the stars together until Yeosang’s tail starts to feel too dry and he has to slip back into the water.

By the time the sun rises, the atmosphere around the island feels completely different. The ocean beyond the sandbar isn’t blank anymore, and when Yeosang swims closer to it his mind stays clear.

“I think it’s open,” he tells Seonghwa. “I think I have to go now.”

“Go quickly. I don’t know how long it stays open, and if you can get back before it closes again maybe we can both be free today.”

Yeosang nods and tugs at Seonghwa’s good leg until he slides into the water where Yeosang can hold him.

“I have a plan,” he says as his hands find their way into Seonghwa’s hair. “I’ll get my friends, maybe my whole family. I’ll bring them here to help me. I’ll-”

“Shut up and kiss me, Yeosang. We’re running out of time.”

“Yeah,” Yeosang nods again. Their lips meet, more urgently than the last time. It’s a goodbye kiss, and though it’s not goodbye forever, it feels like it might as well be. Yeosang isn’t sure he’ll have the courage to kiss Seonghwa like this with his friends around, or if he’ll even be able to kiss Seonghwa goodbye for good. He might just break down if he tries, so he kisses him now. He presses his body against Seonghwa’s, wraps his tail around him and lets his fingers glide over Seonghwa’s skin. And Seonghwa kisses him back just as fervently, moaning softly as his hand slips to the back of Yeosang’s head to hold him there a few moments longer.

“You have to go,” Seonghwa murmurs against his lips, though he doesn’t release Yeosang or move to push him away. “Time-”

“I know. I need to go,” Yeosang agrees, but he just can’t. He can’t let go yet. He needs this small reassurance that the blooming feeling isn’t only inside him, that Seonghwa feels it too.

It’s still too soon when Seonghwa pulls away, giving him one last peck before he pushes gently at Yeosang’s shoulder.

“I know,” Yeosang says again. “Wait right here, okay? I’ll be back soon.”

“Where would I go?” Seonghwa teases, and Yeosang smiles at him, swimming backwards so that he doesn’t have to look away just yet.

He feels the sandbar bump his tail, and suddenly the ocean sounds louder, the sun looks brighter, and he senses more life around him than he’s sensed in almost a month. He turns away from the island and dips below the surface to follow the ocean floor home.

“Where the fuck have you been!” Wooyoung shouts the moment he sees Yeosang. “It’s been weeks! Your mother thinks you’re dead!”

“To be fair,” San adds, “she only thinks that because Woo told her about the shark. She thinks you got gobbled up.”

“Well, as you can see, I’m perfectly fine,” Yeosang tells them, trying to hurry the conversation along. The journey home was longer than Yeosang expected. He got lost twice, and he’d had to swim around a huge smack of jellyfish. “I’m whole and ungobbled, and I need your hel-”

“But where have you been?” Wooyoung interrupts.

“He’s trying to tell you, baby. Just listen.”

Yeosang waits a moment to be sure he won’t be interrupted again, and when he sees Wooyoung clench his jaw shut, he dives into the explanation.

He tells them about the island and the curse, how the barrier made him so confused he felt crazy. He tells them how he waited days for them to find him only to realize it wasn’t going to happen. He tells them how he helped a walker, though he doesn’t mention the dancing or the kisses.

“And now,” he says when they’re nearly completely up to date with the last month of his life, “the walker is stuck on the island, injured, and I need you to help me get him home.”

“You want us to help the walker?” Wooyoung asks, eyebrow arched in disbelief.

“I don’t know if that’s safe,” San says. “What if he’s part of the curse and he’s trying to lure our kind into the island and trap us there forever.”

“No,” Yeosang shakes his head. “He’s just a person, a normal walker-”

“Walkers are dangerous, Yeosang,” Wooyoung interjects again. “They’re cruel and tricky. They’re our only true predator. I’m not letting you put Sannie in danger like that.”

Yeosang’s face falls. “You can’t be serious. I just spent the last month with him. He didn’t try to kill me even once.”

“That’s probably because he wanted you to lead more of us to him,” San tells him, shaking his head sadly.

“Do you know what they’ll do if they capture us, Yeosang? They’ll put us in tanks and drag us all over the land showing us to other walkers. They’ll feed us dead fish, maybe just the heads, and that’s if they feed us anything at all, and they won’t give us room to swim. Do you want to live the rest of your life in a tank eating fish heads, Yeosang?”

“That’s not going to happen, Wooyoung. Seonghwa is nice. He helped me, and now he needs my help.”

“So your walker has a name?” Wooyoung clicks his tongue. “If I didn’t know any better I’d think you’d fallen in love with him or something.”

Yeosang flinches at the word  _ love,  _ and though Wooyoung has turned away in disgust, San definitely notices.

“Woo, baby, maybe Yeosang is right.” Wooyoung spins around to glare at San so fast Yeosang thinks he hears his neck crack. “Look at him. He looks healthy, right? He’s not hurt or anything. I trust Yeo. If he says the walker is safe, then I believe him.”

As Wooyoung stares San down, trying to decide whether to be mad that San is siding with Yeosang or to follow what he says because he loves him and that’s what he  _ always _ does, Yeosang checks the position of the sun in the sky. It’s early evening now. The sun will set soon, and if Seonghwa’s assumption is correct, the island will disappear into its bubble again at sundown. Yeosang knows there’s no way to speed up Wooyoung’s decision, but he desperately hopes that he’ll give in sooner rather than later, because he can’t rescue Seonghwa without their help.

“Ugh, fine,” Wooyoung groans. “We’ll help Yeosang save his walker, but if I end up in a tank I’m blaming you, San.”

San smiles and winks at Yeosang as he hugs Wooyoung and tells him he’s sure they’re making the right choice, but Yeosang doesn’t have time for this. He grabs both of their hands and drags them back the way he came, back to the island and Seonghwa.

This time Yeosang knows exactly where to find the island. He leads them straight through the jellyfish, getting all three of them stung multiple times, and around a seamount. When they reach a sunken ship that’s been claimed by a reef they have to squeeze under and through.

The coral scrapes their bodies and strips off some of their scales, and on the other side they find a shiver of sharks attracted by the scent of their blood. There are too many sharks for the three of them to split up and escape, and the longer they hesitate to act, the closer the sharks swim. The only way out is back through the reef and then around.

The sky is a hazy orange when they finally make it around the reef, but Yeosang knows they’re close. He can see the island in the distance, the craggy mountain jutting up into the sky.

“There it is,” he points. “We just have to get there and out before the sun goes down.”

“With a walker,” Wooyoung says.

“An injured walker,” San adds.

“We can do it. Come on. We’re wasting time.”

Yeosang dives down, swimming straight for the island as fast as his tail will propel him. Wooyoung and San follow him, but as they swim, Yeosang notices the water rapidly growing darker. It’s too far. They can’t swim fast enough, and just as the sandbar comes into view, the sun falls behind the horizon. The sandbar disappears, and the island with it. They swim right over the place where the sandbar was, but it’s gone. It’s gone, and so is Seonghwa.


	4. Four

“What happened?” San asks when Yeosang stops swimming. “Where did it go?”

“It’s gone,” Yeosang says. His voice wobbles, and he can feel tears filling his eyes, waiting for a blink to trickle down his cheeks. He has to look away from Wooyoung, not wanting him to know he’s crying.

“So it really does disappear,” San marvels, eyes still scanning the water in search of the mountain they’d seen from afar. “And your walker is stuck there until it comes back again?”

“Yeah.” Yeosang sniffs. There’s no hiding how thick his voice is as he holds back more tears. 

“He’ll be okay, Yeo,” San tells him, pulling Yeosang into a hug. “He was okay without you before, he’ll be okay now.”

“Yeah, but now he’s hurt. He can hardly walk, and he doesn’t know how to catch fish. All he has to eat is fruit, and I don’t think the barrier will open again until the next full moon.”

Wooyoung, who has been suspiciously quiet since they arrived, finally decides to speak up.

“You really are in love with him. I was just joking before, but you are, aren’t you?”

Yeosang can’t speak anymore. He just nods and lets the tears fall.

“How the hell do you fall in love with someone in a month?” Wooyoung screeches. “It took Sannie and me fifteen years!”

“Speak for yourself, honey. I’ve known I was in love with you since I was nine years old, but this isn’t about us. Yeosang here is in love with a walker. How are they supposed to be together?”

San puts to words the very thing Yeosang has been trying to ignore ever since the first time Seonghwa kissed him. Sharing moments on the beach is nice, but Seonghwa will go home to the land, and Yeosang will remain in the ocean. How are they supposed to be together? The easy answer is that they’re not supposed to be together at all.

“It doesn’t matter if we can be together,” he says. “All that matters right now is that he’s stuck on that island. I promised I would come back for him and take him home, and that’s what I’m going to do.”

“Yes, sweetie," San says, petting Yeosang's head gently, soothing him the way he always does. "You definitely are, but right now the island is gone. If you're right about the full moon it’ll be gone for weeks. There’s nothing you can do tonight, so come home with us and rest, hmm?”

Yeosang finds himself nodding, allowing Wooyoung and San to lead him back home. When they arrive at the couple’s cave near dawn, Yeosang curls up in a corner and cries himself to sleep.

“You can’t tell him,” San says. He keeps his voice quiet, not wanting to disturb Yeosang who only just finally fell asleep. They don’t have to be loud anyway. They’re tangled together, tails intertwined, close enough that they can speak in hushed whispers and still hear each other just fine. “You can’t. It’s just a myth, a folktale. Have you ever known anyone who fell in love with a walker?”

“Only Yeosang,” Wooyoung admits, “but baby, he _ is _ in love. It would be cruel to keep them apart, don’t you think?”

“Would you rather Yeosang leave us forever?”

“If it makes him happy... We would learn to live without him.”

San makes a soft sound of disbelief. “He’s already been gone for a month, Woo, and you nearly lost your mind without him. I don’t think this is a good idea. It might not even work.”

“Right, it might not work, but then again, it might work. It’s the only possible way they  _ could  _ be together, Sannie. If I were a walker, wouldn’t you at least want to try?”

“It doesn’t matter. You’re not a walker, and I’m not Yeosang. What if-” San lowers his voice even further. “What if Seonghwa doesn’t feel the same way? What if Yeosang gives up his tail and is stuck as a walker for the rest of his life, and he  _ still _ can’t be with Seonghwa?”

“That’s not how it works, baby. It will only work if the walker loves him back. If he doesn’t, Yeosang keeps his tail.”

“That’s the myth  _ you _ know. I heard it a different way. And think about his heart, Woo. If Seonghwa doesn’t love him back, he’ll be  _ crushed. _ I can’t be responsible for that.”

“You can’t make the walker love him back, and you don’t know that he doesn’t. What if it’s mutual? We could give them the opportunity to be together.”

San doesn’t respond, but the gears in his brain are spinning. His thoughts are pinging back and forth so fast, and he truly doesn’t know which choice is the right choice.

“Baby, you can’t protect him forever. He’s not a child. He should be allowed to make an informed decision for himself.” San groans, and Wooyoung sighs. “You know I’m right, don’t you?”

“I’m not sure you are, Woo, but I’m not sure I’m right, either. I- I’m not going to tell him. I don’t want any part in that. But I’m not going to stop you from telling him. Just… explain the risk, okay? Tell him it might not work, that he might be stuck as a walker forever without his love. Tell him  _ everything.” _

“I will, baby. I promise I will.”

They’re quiet for a long time before San breaks the silence again.

“I would do it for you, Woo. If you were a walker, I’d give up my tail for you.”

“Me too, Sannie. I hope Yeosang-”

Wooyoung doesn’t get to finish what he was going to say. Yeosang’s tail twitches, and San shushes him. He holds Wooyoung tighter and nuzzles into his neck, nose pressed to his gills, until he falls asleep.

“Where are you going?” Wooyoung asks just as Yeosang is heading out of the cave.

“To see my family. I didn’t get a chance-”

“You can’t see them. Not yet.” Wooyoung looks nervous. Suspicious. His eyes are darting around, and he’s bobbing slightly as he waves his hands in the water beside him.

“Why?”

“Because… because they think you’re dead, and maybe… maybe that’s best. For now.”

“Why?” Yeosang repeats himself. “I haven’t seen them in a month. I need to go let them know I’m okay."

"Right, but hear me out. What if you… don't do that?"

Yeosang glances over Wooyoung's shoulder to see San sneaking out of the cave.

"San," Yeosang says, "could you please explain what he's talking about?"

"I'm not part of this," he calls before swimming away, his tail a flash of gold behind him, leaving Yeosang to decipher Wooyoung's words on his own.

"I can explain it myself," Wooyoung frowns, his black tail twitching in annoyance so that the golden scales scattered over it ripple with sparkles. "I just don't really know where to start."

"How about you start with how it's better that my parents continue to believe I'm dead."

"No, I don't think I can start there," Wooyoung sighs. "Okay, so here's the thing. You're in love with the walker, right?"

"Seonghwa, and… I think so?"

"But are you sure?"

Despite what he said before, Yeosang can't really be sure. They haven't spent enough time together to be sure. He knows he feels  _ something _ for Seonghwa, but he's still not certain it's as strong as love. He shakes his head, and Wooyoung frowns harder.

“I need you to be sure, Yeo.”

“How? How do I know? How does anyone know if they’re in love?”

Wooyoung huffs, and dozens of tiny bubbles burst from his mouth, the remainder of the air that was left in his lungs from the last time they surfaced. They collect on the ceiling of the cave, and Yeosang watches as they merge together to form one large bubble that seeps through a crack in the highest part of the cave to escape to the sky.

“Okay, so you remember when San and I got pinned behind that reef and the octopus was reaching in from both sides to get us?”

Yeosang nods. He remembers that day well. He’d had to distract the octopus so that they could escape, but it meant the octopus came after him instead. He’d had suction bruises on his arms and torso that lasted weeks.

“Well remember how when we came home that night I just… couldn’t let San out of my sight? I kept thinking something would happen to him and I wouldn’t be there to protect him.”

“Right, I remember. San moved in here with you after that.”

“Right. Because… Yeosang, it wasn’t just that I wanted to protect him always. I know he doesn’t need protecting. He’s smart and fast and strong, probably smarter and faster and stronger than I am. I felt incomplete without him. The thought of him sleeping alone made me sad. The idea that maybe I wasn’t as important to him as he was to me was devastating. That was when I realized that I was in love.”

Yeosang doesn’t answer for a moment, pausing to think if there was a time on the island that made him feel the way Wooyoung felt that day with the octopus.

“When he fell,” he says. “When Seonghwa fell, it felt like my whole world collapsed with him. That axe flew up as he went down. It spun in the air, and when it finally landed all I could see was the handle sticking up from where Seonghwa was lying. It looked like it went straight through him, and my heart was in my throat.”

He had scraped some scales off in his hurry to get to Seonghwa, pushing through the tangled roots faster than he could think and squeezing through some gaps that were a bit too narrow. He hadn’t even felt it in the moment, but when he was making his way back to the ship to get the axe for Seonghwa the saltwater stung his hips and tail.

“And when you left him, what about then?”

Yeosang starts to cry again. He doesn’t understand how he has any tears left, but there they are, trickling out and mixing with the ocean water.

“It was hard to leave, but I knew I had to come get help to rescue him.” It was even harder going back, seeing Seonghwa just as the veil dropped and knowing he couldn’t reach him in time.”

“And when you imagine him, now and in the future, what do you imagine?”

Yeosang closes his eyes, and he sees sun-bleached hair and golden skin, Seonghwa’s smile from the night they danced, the sliver of midriff that showed after he ripped the bottom of his shirt off to wrap his wound. He hears Seonghwa humming and laughing. He feels Seonghwa’s arms around him, lips on his skin, mended ankle hooked around his tail. He imagines Seonghwa on the mainland, hanging out with faceless friends, but he also imagines Seonghwa with that pretty red and fire opal tail, swimming freely with Yeosang.

“You see the two of you together?”

“Yes and no. I see us together on the island in the past, but I see him with his friends on land in the future, and a future that can’t be, with him here in the ocean with us.”

“There’s an option you haven’t considered,” Wooyoung tells him, and Yeosang opens his eyes, curious. “What if you could be with him on land?”

“But my tail. It would dry out. I can’t… walk.”

“Just try to imagine it. What if you could?”

What if he could?

If he could, Yeosang would be able to hold Seonghwa, would be able to walk the beach with him. Or the streets. They could dance. They could ride in one of those cars Seonghwa told him about. He could meet Seonghwa’s friends and be a part of his life.

“There’s a way, Yeo. I know a way. Maybe. San wants me to remind you it’s not definite. I’ve heard that if a merman confesses his love to a walker and the walker loves him back, the merman and the walker can be together. But I’ve never known anyone who has actually done it. The way I heard it, the merman would sacrifice his tail to become a walker. Sannie thinks it’s a myth, but if there’s a chance…”

“What happens if he doesn’t love me back?”

“There's some uncertainty about that. Either you stay in the ocean, keep your tail, and come back to live here with us, or...”

"Or what?"

"Or you lose your tail and are stuck on the land forever without the person you love. For what it's worth, I believe the former rather than the latter. It's the way I've always heard it told."

“And you don’t want me to go see my parents because they already think I’m dead. Whether he loves me back or not, if it works and I lose my tail, I won’t be able to come back.”

“Mhmm,” Wooyoung hums. “It would be easier on them, don’t you think?”

Yeosang studies his tail, the purple scales dotted with pearly white shimmering softly in the dim light of the cave. He flicks it gently, imagining it’s a pair of legs, two separate feet kicking together.

“Remember, it might just be a folktale. Either way, it’s not a decision you should make lightly,” Wooyoung says. “We can’t get to Seonghwa for a few more weeks, so you have time. Stay here with us until you decide, and if you choose not to do it, then you can go see your family.”

“Yeah,” Yeosang nods. “I need to… think.” He moves to leave the cave once more, but Wooyoung blocks him again.

“Where are you going?”

“I said I need to think. I can’t do that here. It’s too crowded. I've been trapped within the barrier of that island for a month. I need to go… somewhere else, somewhere more open.”

“You won’t go to your parents?”

Yeosang shakes his head, and Wooyoung floats out of his way and lets him exit the cave.

“Yeosang,” he calls when Yeosang is almost too far to hear him. “Come back before dark, okay? Sannie worries.”

Yeosang waves a hand back at Wooyoung and flips his tail a little harder, jetting off toward one of the sunken ships at the edge of their territory. It’ll be quiet there, a good place to consider his feelings. He just hopes his sister won’t pick today to go looking for treasure there.

It’s harder to get by without Yeosang than Seonghwa had expected. He’d only been injured for under a week before Yeosang left, but he hadn’t realized just how much he relied on Yeosang.

First off, there are no fish or crab anymore. The only reason he bothers to build a fire the first night after Yeosang leaves is because there’s a chill in the air. He hobbles to the melon patch the next morning, but apparently they’re out of season because all he finds are two more nearly overripe melons and a bunch of vines that are drying out.

Without the fish and melons Seonghwa has to find something else to eat. The only thing easily accessible is a berry bush near the entrance to his cave, but he clears out the berries on the third day and has to wait two more days for more to ripen, so that’s obviously not a good source of food.

His ankle starts to feel better about a week after the full moon. It’s still weak and wobbly and a little sore, but he can put weight on it without crumpling in pain. He ventures further into the woods to find something to eat, and he manages to trap a couple of small animals, but they’re very small, perhaps even babies. They don’t have much meat. It’s mostly bones and skin and organs. But the nuts he’d found when he first landed are finally growing again. He just hopes he can hold out until they’re ripe enough to eat.

Raft construction is considerably more difficult in Seonghwa’s condition. His original plan was to widen the raft by a foot on either side, but while he has no problem chopping down the trees thanks to the axe, he has no way of bringing them back to the beach. They’re too heavy. His ankle just can’t handle the weight. Instead, he hauls a tangle of vines to the raft and attempts to strengthen what he’s already built. He’s still not sure how to seal it, but as long as it floats it will get him where he needs to go.

Evenings are the worst those first couple of weeks. Seonghwa misses Yeosang’s company, the way he would swim as far up the beach as he could just to be near Seonghwa. He misses Yeosang’s shy smiles and his wonder at all of the insider information Seonghwa would share about  _ walker life. _ He misses the way Yeosang’s pretty tail shivers when he gets excited. He misses their conversations, and he misses holding Yeosang, even if he only got to enjoy that privilege a few times. He misses Yeosang terribly, and he’s positive that it’s not just because he’s left alone now.

When he first woke up on the island he missed his home and his friends, but despite having known Hongjoong for most of his life, he didn’t ache to be with Hongjoong again. Seonghwa had seen Yeosang just before the barrier closed again. He was sitting on the shore as the sun was setting, and he stood when he noticed the pale orange light bouncing off of Yeosang’s hair. But then the ocean seemed to flicker in front of him, and suddenly Yeosang was gone again. It could have been a hallucination, but Seonghwa knows it wasn’t. Yeosang was keeping his promise. He was coming back to rescue Seonghwa.

It’s the only thing that motivates Seonghwa some days, the knowledge that Yeosang will return. He will. There’s no question in Seonghwa’s mind. He just has to hold out until the barrier opens again, and he knows that when it does, Yeosang will be waiting on the other side, with help, ready to swim in and carry him home.

So Seonghwa slogs through his days on the island. He checks the nuts and sets traps for animals, and he painstakingly ties vines around the parts of the raft that he can until one day, as he’s checking his traps, he notices one of the broader trees is leaking sap. A lot of sap. It’s practically pouring out of a crack in the bark, and the places where it’s dried and hardened look like they’ve been treated with a thick coat of shellac.

“It’s perfect,” he marvels, envisioning his entire raft coated in the stuff. Although, he’s still not sure how he can get any of the stuff to his raft. He has no bucket to carry it, and it dries so fast in his hands that he has to scrub them with sand to remove it. He’ll have to bring the raft to the tree, and that might take days. But what does he have but time. He’ll wait a couple more days to rest his ankle, and then he’ll spend as long as he needs dragging the raft back through the woods. When Yeosang comes for him, he will be ready.


	5. Five

The ship Yeosang finds himself on has been resting at the bottom of the ocean for nearly a century. Despite the fact that his sister sometimes shows up unannounced, it’s Yeosang’s favorite place to go when he wants to be alone. It must have been majestic many years ago, back when it floated on the surface and was occupied by walkers, but now it’s in pieces, all coated in a thick layer of algae and seaweed.

Though it’s not completely intact, much of the structure is still standing. There’s a grand double staircase exposed to the sea, and at the top of the stairs is a large, open room with a long counter and the remains of several tables. Yeosang twirls lazily across the ballroom beyond the bar, wondering what it would be like to dance on this floor. On feet. He wonders what it’s like to dance on feet.

Can he give up his tail? The thought of walking on two fragile legs instead of swimming with one strong tail is daunting. Legs can’t move as fast as tails. They aren’t as fluid or graceful. Yeosang likes the way he moves. But then he imagines walking alongside Seonghwa, how he might wobble on his new legs, how Seonghwa might hold him closer, support him. That would feel nice.

Yeosang ponders what Seonghwa’s friends are like. Would Seonghwa introduce him to Hongjoong and Jongho? Would Yeosang become friends with them as well? Could they replace Wooyoung and San in Yeosang’s life? He highly doubts that. Wooyoung and San have been a fixture in his life since he was just a small thing, his tail too tiny to keep up with his parents when they swam long distances.

Most merpeople’s tails change colors as they get older. Yeosang’s has always been purple, but Wooyoung’s tail was teal when he was younger, and San’s was orange. Over time they gradually developed into inverse images of each other. Wooyoung’s teal darkened until it turned nearly black and San’s neon orange mellowed into a shiny, glowing gold. Their speckles and spots reflect each other’s colors, and San likes to say it’s because they’re soulmates, that they’ve always been meant to complete each other.

Are Yeosang and Seonghwa soulmates, too? Is that why they found each other on that island? If Yeosang gives up his tail, will his legs be as nice as Seonghwa’s? Will their bodies find some way to fit together the way Wooyoung and San do?

Most importantly, Yeosang wonders if Seonghwa will accept his love. Will he return Yeosang’s feelings? Will he help Yeosang when his tail melts away and turns into legs, or will he turn Yeosang away and force him to find a way to live without his love?

And it is love. It’s definitely love. The way Wooyoung described the feeling, that’s what Yeosang feels as well.

Yes, he decides, he can give up his tail if it’s for Seonghwa. And if Seonghwa doesn’t accept his love, he’ll live with the consequences. He’ll find a way to make it on the land somehow, with or without Seonghwa.

Wooyoung and San tell Yeosang he has to stay in the cave as much as possible until the next full moon. They don’t want to risk his family seeing him. It’s almost always dark in the cave, and boring and confining. Yeosang just wants to swim free while he still can, but their reasoning makes sense.

The days pass slowly cooped up in the cave. Yeosang feels as trapped as he did on the island, possibly more so as the cave is significantly smaller. He passes his time arranging and rearranging Wooyoung’s colorful pebble collection and swimming slow circles in the tiny living space.

They still take him out occasionally at night, though, looking for trouble with large sea creatures that can’t swim as fast as they can. They feast on small squid one evening in the darkest part of the ocean, deep beneath the surface. It’s cold there, the icy water leaving Yeosang’s body is stiff as they swim back to the cave.

From the mouth of the cave Yeosang watches the moon cycle through its phases, shrinking to a sliver before beginning to grow again. He doesn’t have to say a word when the full moon draws near. Wooyoung and San are prepared to leave several days before, just in case. If possible, they want to be at the island when it appears. That way they’ll have the entire day to get Seonghwa beyond the barrier.

The trip back to the island is much longer now that they’re moving at a reasonable pace. The jellyfish they had to swim through before have moved on, but the coral-covered ship is still there. They have the sense and time to go around it now, avoiding any unfortunate meetings with that shiver of sharks.

“So, what’s the plan?” San asks when they finally reach where they think the island is.

“Well, I’m not really sure,” Yeosang says, scratching his head. They haven’t thought this through, he realizes. Maybe they won’t be able to rescue Seonghwa at all.

“Does he have one of those… the ship thingies?” Wooyoung prompts, but Yeosang shakes his head. Seonghwa told him he arrived on that pile of rotting wood on the beach. It’s certainly not seaworthy.

“My original plan was to just carry him back to land, but I’m not sure I’ll have the strength to make it that far.”

“Hey,” San touches his arm. “There are three of us now. We’ll just ask him which way to go and we can take turns carrying him.”

“Okay, but you have to keep his head above water. He can’t breathe down there.”

“We know.”

“And you can’t go too fast because he’s pretty heavy.”

“Got it.”

“And-”

“You know what, Yeosang?” Wooyoung interrupts. “Why don’t we just wing it. I’m sure we can figure it out.”

“Right,” Yeosang nods. There’s a knot of anxiety twisting in his gut. He’s sure something will go wrong, but for now all he can do is wait.

The sun sets as they watch for the island to appear. The moon is full and bright overhead, but still there’s no island, no craggy mountain, no beach and no trees.

“It’ll come,” San says, but Yeosang can’t help but worry. What if the island doesn’t appear every full moon? What if it’s not the full moon that brings it back? What if (Yeosang gulps) Seonghwa hasn’t survived?

They watch for the island in silence for most of the night. They stay that way for hours, eyes peeled, the waves rocking them gently beneath the twinkling stars. Normally on a clear night like this Yeosang would float on his back and stare up at the sky. He wishes he could enjoy it now, but he just can’t calm down.

The sun is beginning its ascent before they finally see something. It’s not the island, but there’s a shimmer in the air just to the left of where they’ve been watching. As the sun peeks over the water the same area flickers twice, and then there it is. The mountain, the trees, the island.

No one is on the beach as they make their way to the sandbar. Yeosang frantically scans the coast, but Seonghwa isn’t there. He fears the worst, swimming faster, but he runs against something that feels solid just as he goes to cross the sandbar. Apparently the island is visible but not yet accessible.

“Wait,” he calls to San and Wooyoung, not wanting them to bump into the barrier as well. “We’ll have to wait here until the sun rises fully. I think… I think it’s the sunrise that will open the barrier. I hope.”

It’s still invisible, but Wooyoung decides to inspect the barrier, swimming a few dozen meters in each direction with his shoulder pressed to it. When he seems satisfied that it’s solid, he leans his back against it just in time for the whole thing to disappear. San laughs as Wooyoung backflips right into the sandbar.

“We don’t have time for this, Woo,” Yeosang growls, yanking Wooyoung back to the surface by his elbow and pointing him in the direction of the beach. They can hear the waves lapping at the shore now, and a bird singing high up in one of the taller trees.

Yeosang begins calling for Seonghwa before they reach the sand, and by the time he enters an area too shallow to swim in, he can see something moving through the trees.

“Yeosang? Yeo- You. You came back.”

Seonghwa looks… a lot of things. He looks stunned, surprised to see Yeosang again. His jaw hangs open most unattractively. He looks thin, like he hasn’t eaten properly the whole time Yeosang has been gone, which he probably hasn’t. His cheeks are too hollow, his collarbones poke out under the neckline of his stained shirt, and his wrists and fingers look absolutely frail as he brings his hand up to cover his open mouth.

He looks dirty. It’s not just the shirt that’s more stained than when Yeosang left him. Seonghwa’s hands and arms are covered in splotches of dark brown that could be nearly anything. Maybe dirt or sand or even blood. And his hair, which he rinsed in the water every night when Yeosang was with him, is caked with dried mud.

But despite all the other things he looks, he’s also the most beautiful sight Yeosang has ever beheld. He’s real, and he’s alive.

“You healed,” Yeosang mumbles. It’s the only thing he can think to say right away, his brain too busy taking in every detail of Seognhwa’s appearance to form any other words. Seonghwa is standing firmly on both feet, and he only limps a little when he splashes into the water to meet Yeosang. He laughs at Yeosang and nods.

“I told you it would only take a couple of weeks. I’ve been walking around without help for over a week.”

“Would it be rude to drag him under for a minute or two to clean him up?” Wooyoung whispers to San, and San smacks him gently.

“Shut up, you’re ruining their moment.”

“I’m being serious,” Wooyoung says. “Are all walkers this dirty?”

“No,” Seonghwa butts into their conversation. “I’m usually very clean, but there’s not much of a way to wash up here. Ugh, I can’t wait to get home and shower! You are taking me home, right?” He looks from Wooyoung to Yeosang, eyebrows raised.

“Yeah. Yeah, we’re taking you home,” Yeosang agrees hesitantly. His heart feels like it’s dropped into his stomach, snagging itself in that knot that’s still tangled and writhing inside him. “We’re not quite sure how yet, but-”

“Are you kidding, Yeosang?” San says. “I thought you said he was heavy. He looks absolutely tiny. Are all walkers so skinny?”

“You’re awfully quick to judge people,” Seonghwa scoffs. “I’m dirty and skinny by circumstance. I promise I don’t always look like this. And humans are as different from one another as your people.”

“I was just curious,” San mutters back as Wooyoung opens his mouth to argue further.

“Stop it,” Yeosang insists, staring Wooyoung down until his jaw snaps shut with a click of his pointy teeth. “You’re all being ridiculous. We don’t have much time-”

“We have all day,” Wooyoung grumbles. “Literally.”

Yeosang honestly hadn’t expected them to like Seonghwa, but he had at least expected them to be civil. Hadn’t they agreed to help him? How is this helpful?

“I want Seonghwa past that sandbar by midday,” Yeosang announces. “I’ll take him first since he’s my… my friend, but one of you will still have to take over at some point. Otherwise we’ll be drifting until I can get enough rest to carry him further.”

“Who said anything about carrying me? Yeosang, I finished the raft.”

_ The raft.  _ Yeosang had forgotten all about the raft. He glances over to the shore where it had been when he left, but there’s nothing there but sand and rocks.

“It’s in the woods,” Seonghwa explains. “I’ll have to go get it, but it’s sealed. It floats. And I even made a tow rope. All you three have to do is pull the rope.”

No one speaks. They’re all too stunned to say anything, and Seonghwa just stands there, waist deep in the water, looking at Yeosang like he’s waiting to be praised.

“Okay,” Seonghwa says after a moment, his smile fading as he realizes that none of them are going to respond. “Well, I’m gonna go get that raft. I’ll be back soon. Stay here.” He wades back to the sand and limps away into the woods, only glancing over his shoulder once just before he disappears behind the trees, apparently to make sure they’re not planning on abandoning him again.

“So Seonghwa is...” San begins, but he trails off without finishing the sentence, waiting for Wooyoung to complete it for him.

“The walker is weird.”

“I like him,” San corrects. “I think he likes Yeosang, too. He’s not what I expected.”

“He’s not how Yeosang described him,” Wooyoung adds.

“No, but he seems nice. Right?”

“If by nice you mean he hasn’t tried to catch us in a net and put us in a tank, sure.”

“Why haven’t you kissed him yet?” San asks.

“Yeah, don’t be shy on our account,” Wooyoung teases. “Go ahead and confess. Get your walker!”

“Guys, please,” Yeosang says, floating a little closer to the beach. “I’m not being shy, Woo. And that- that’s just stupid. If I confess now and it works, I’ll lose my tail, and you’ll have to tow both of us to land. That raft was barely big enough for him when I left.”

“Right,” San agrees. “Doesn’t make much sense to make more work for ourselves. You can just do it after we get him to land.”

“Unless you’ve changed your mind?”

“What? No. Why would I change my mind?” Yeosang won’t change his mind. He’s in love. He’s even more sure of it now than he was before.

He’s saved the trouble of explaining this as the trees start to shake, just like the last time Seonghwa dragged the raft out of the woods. It takes a few minutes for the raft to clear the treeline, and when Seonghwa comes into view it’s immediately clear that he’s done a lot of work on it. He pulls it out by the tow rope, a mass of vines all braided together and tied to the front end of the raft. There are more vines wrapped around the wood than before, holding it together much more tightly, and the whole thing is unevenly coated in something glossy that reflects the sunlight as it bumps over rocks on the way to the water.

“Okay, that’s pretty impressive,” Wooyoung admits. “I honestly was still kind of expecting a net instead of a raft, but that… looks like it will float.”

“It will,” Seonghwa grunts, feet splashing in the surf as he tugs it one last time to get it into the water. “I tested it.”

Yeosang offers Seonghwa a hand climbing onto the raft, and he takes the tow rope, which it turns out has two loops at the end that can be used as a harness. He pushes his arms through the loops and pulls them up onto his shoulders, then he looks up at Seonghwa who has finally settled as close to the center of the raft as possible.

“You’ll have to tell us where to go,” San says. “All we really know is away from the island. We’re not sure what direction.”

“I’m not too sure either, really. It’s been almost a year, and I wasn’t conscious when I landed here. Just get me away from the island and we can figure it out from there. If you get me to land  _ somewhere _ I can find a way home from wherever it is.”

They start by heading away from the island in the opposite direction from their own home. Obviously there isn’t any land near there. Seonghwa sighs as they cross over the sandbar. Yeosang can feel it, too, the way the curse tugs at them until they’re completely through the barrier.

As they begin their journey Yeosang is in the lead, pulling the raft, and San and Wooyoung swimming alongside it to listen for directions when needed. Over an hour later there’s still no sign of land, and Yeosang is getting tired. They stop to let him rest while he swaps places with Wooyoung.

“Are you seeing anything familiar?” he asks Seonghwa.

“Are you? All I see is water. You know the ocean floor better than I know the surface. What are you seeing?”

Nothing, really. Yeosang doesn’t recognize anything. They’re so far from his home, further than they usually venture. They don’t usually go so far that they can’t swim home before dark. It was a fluke that landed Yeosang on the island to begin with. He would have turned back much sooner if not for the very persistent shark on his tail.

“I don’t know,” he says. “We’ll go this way a little longer. If we don’t see anything we’ll try a different direction.”

Wooyoung takes off, and within half an hour they can see trees on the horizon. Seonghwa starts getting excited that they’re close to something, but it turns out to be nothing more than another small island in the middle of nowhere. There aren’t any walkers or boats or buildings. It’s just as deserted as the island they left from.

“It’s not the same place, right?” Wooyoung asks. “We didn’t just swim in a circle?”

“There’s no sandbar,” Yeosang says. “No mountain. It’s not the same place, but let’s get out of here, just in case.”

“Wouldn’t that be something,” Seonghwa comments. “Leave a cursed island only to land on another.”

“Get him out of here,” San says, and Wooyoung takes off in a different direction, swimming as fast as he can without throwing Seonghwa off the raft or dragging it under.

It’s mid afternoon when Wooyoung needs a break, and they haven’t seen anything but water since late morning. Seonghwa is feeling restless just sitting on the raft, but unlike a long car ride there’s nowhere to pull over and get out to walk around.

“Can I just hop in the water for a bit to stretch my legs? Would you be able to help me back up if I do?”

“Of course,” San agrees. “Come on, Woo. Let’s go scout a little.”

“But I’m tired. I want to rest,” Wooyoung complains, but San gives him a look, and he rolls his eyes and follows San away from the raft.

“I feel as disgusting as I probably look,” Seonghwa says nervously as he slides off the side of the raft into Yeosang’s arms.

“You look beautiful,” Yeosang tells him. “You always look beautiful.”

“I know I’m a mess, Yeosang. You don’t have to say that to be nice.”

“I’m not. You do look a mess, but you’re still beautiful. Here, lean your head back.”

Yeosang wraps an arm around Seonghwa’s far too thin waist and cradles the back of his head with the other, gently lowering Seonghwa’s head into the water. Seonghwa watches Yeosang’s face, the way his brows knit together in concentration as he carefully rinses the dirt and grime out of Seonghwa’s hair. It’s the first time they’ve been so close in a month. Seonghwa has dreamed of it every night, between nightmares of being eighty years old and still stuck on the island. He likes the way Yeosang holds him, likes how solid Yeosang’s body feels against him, how strong Yeosang’s arms and tail are. He likes Yeosang. A lot.

“It’s the stuff you sealed the boat with,” Yeosang says as he moves on to rub at the sap all over Seonghwa’s arms.

“Yeah, it’s like glue. Everything sticks to it, and my skin was starting to hurt from scrubbing it off with sand. I was afraid to touch my hair. Thought I might accidentally pull it all out. I need a nice hot shower. With body scrub and shampoo. Would be nice to smell good for you for once.”

Yeosang wrinkles his nose. “You don’t smell bad. You’ve never smelled bad. You smell like the ocean.”

“At home I smell like vanilla and sandalwood. Believe me, it’s much better than this.”

Yeosang shakes his head, but he’s smiling. Either he doesn’t believe it or doesn’t agree, but he’s not willing to argue or explain.

“You look even better than you did when you left,” Seonghwa whispers when Yeosang splashes water against his neck, cleaning him all the way up to his ears. “Freedom suits you.”

“I wasn’t all that free, really. I was stuck in their cave for the most part.” He jerks his head toward Wooyoung and San.

“I thought about you the whole time you were gone.”

“Me too. I worried a lot. Didn’t think you’d be able to feed yourself.” He pokes at Seonghwa’s stomach. “Looks like I was right.”

“Mm, you kind of were. I made it, though.”

Yeosang frowns. “Did you eat anything today? I can have San catch you some fish. We can’t cook it out here, but at least it’s something.”

Smiling, Seonghwa lifts his hand to Yeosang’s cheek. The side of his palm grazes Yeosang’s gills, and he shivers against Seonghwa, tail flicking under the water.

“It’s okay, I had something this morning. I’ll let you know if I get too hungry.” He kisses Yeosang’s cheek, enjoying the way it makes him whine and turn his head in search of more, but they’re startled apart by the sound of splashing nearby.

“Get him back on the raft,” Wooyoung calls as San grabs the rope and slides his arms through the loops of the harness. “We think we might have found something.”


	6. Six

Yeosang feels like he can’t breathe as they approach walker territory. They can see boat masts in the distance, signs of life, of other walkers. This is the closest they’ve been to inhabited land and human civilization all day, and if Seonghwa can find a way home from here, he’ll be leaving Yeosang within the hour.

“It’s not much further,” he tells Seonghwa. “Do you recognize it?”

“Yeah, I think it’s the dock I left from, actually. At the end of that little strip there should be the place I rented the rowboat.”

_ Damn. _ They really are close. They’ve got the right place and everything.

“My house is about an hour away, but I might have to call Hongjoong to come get me. Even if my car is still in the lot, I lost my keys in the ocean.”

Wooyoung ducks under the water to swim up to San and let him know they'll be stopping soon as Seonghwa scans the docks. It only takes a little longer for San to find the right place, and the three of them push the raft almost all the way under the wooden walkway. It’s too high for Seonghwa to reach without help, but as soon as the raft is stationary, Wooyoung and San disappear.

“Where are they going?”

“They, uh, wanted to give us a chance to say goodbye. Privately.”

“Oh, right,” Seonghwa frowns. “I keep forgetting we have to do that. I… I don’t want to say goodbye.”

Yeosang doesn’t either, and he knows there’s a possibility that he won’t have to, but he can’t bring himself to say the words he needs to say. His mind is flooded with thoughts of how he’ll be burdening Seonghwa. He’s a nice guy. Even if he doesn’t love Yeosang, Seonghwa wouldn’t just leave him to find his way on land all on his own. 

Seonghwa scoots to the edge of the raft and slides down into the water again, holding onto Yeosang’s shoulders to stay afloat. He’s right there in Yeosang’s arms, but still Yeosang can’t do it. He just can’t make himself say  _ I love you, Seonghwa, and I want to be with you. _

“Hey, I can see you’re stuck in your head. What’s going on, huh?”

Yeosang shakes his head. He doesn’t want to answer, but Seonghwa must be a mind reader. He loops his arms around Yeosang’s neck and pulls him closer, kissing him the way he had that first time on the island, soft and delicate. It draws the poisonous thoughts from Yeosang’s mind and lets him think more clearly, and when Seonghwa pulls away he takes a breath, he’s prepared to make his confession.

But Seonghwa beats him to it.

“This is going to sound so weird and rushed and just…” he trails off for a moment before shaking his head and continuing. “Yeosang, I think I’m in love with you. I don’t want to leave you. I want to stay here with you, or I want you to come home with me. I want us to be together. Is there… Do you think we could find a way?”

“I don’t know,” Yeosang says. He still doesn’t know if the myth is true, but there's only one way to find out. “I love you, too, and I don’t want to leave you, either.”

Seonghwa breathes a heavy sigh hearing that Yeosang feels the same, and he kisses Yeosang again, harder this time, more urgently, like he’s trying to get all of his kisses in at once before they’re ripped apart. He presses his body closer to Yeosang, clinging to him. His lips are insistent against Yeosang’s, his tongue curious, licking at Yeosang’s lower lip, even using his teeth to nibble a bit.

Yeosang is afraid to open his mouth too wide. His own teeth are dangerous. They’re meant to rip fish apart, and they could easily do the same to Seonghwa’s tongue, but Seonghwa doesn’t give up easily. He threads his fingers into Yeosang’s hair and tugs gently, tilting Yeosang’s head to the side and causing him to gasp. Seonghwa takes the opportunity to deepen the kiss further, tongue exploring the tips of those sharp teeth and brushing against Yeosang’s tongue as well.

They’re so caught up in each other that they don’t notice right away when something begins to change. Seonghwa’s legs are resting in the curve of Yeosang’s tail, his hands at the back of Yeosang’s head and on his shoulder. Something feels different the next time Seonghwa grabs at Yeosang’s hair. His fingers don’t slide through it the same, and then Yeosang realizes something slicker than the fabric of Seonghwa’s pants is sliding against his tail as Seonghwa tries to lift himself higher.

Yeosang drops a hand to Seonghwa’s hip, wondering what’s different. He jerks back when he feels what it is, scales beneath his fingers.

“Wait, no,” Seonghwa whines, chasing him.

“Seonghwa-”

“Come back. I’m not ready to go.”

“No, Seonghwa, your legs, they’re-”

They look both down, and Seonghwa’s legs are gone, fused together and covered in scales. He has a tail, iridescent white flecked with deep purple. A perfect inversion of Yeosang’s own scales.

“How-”

“I don’t know,” Yeosang shakes his head. “I thought I was supposed to have legs. This is-”

“Better. It’s so much better, Yeosang. I can-”

Seonghwa releases Yeosang, dipping under the water and swirling in circles. Yeosang joins him, watches him test his tail, flipping it and admiring the way it moves in the water. He smiles at Yeosang when he sees him watching.

“We match,” he says, covering his mouth in surprise when he hears his own voice underwater, a flurry of bubbles slipping around his now-webbed fingers as it makes him giggle.

He reaches for Yeosang, and Yeosang swims closer, wrapping around Seonghwa easily when they touch.

“You can teach me to dance,” he tells Yeosang, and Yeosang can’t do anything other than nod. He’s too overwhelmed to think.

“Think you can put that on hold?” San’s voice startles them both. “Don’t mean to break this up, but we’d like to head home if that’s okay.”

“Yeah, we can be back by tomorrow morning if we go now,” Wooyoung adds. “You’ve got a lifetime to learn to dance. Let’s go.”

“Are you okay with that?” Yeosang asks. He knows Seonghwa’s answer by the way he smiles, eyes disappearing and lips spreading to reveal a new set of teeth just like Yeosang’s.

Seonghwa nods. “Take me home.” He takes Yeosang’s hand and turns to Wooyoung and San, letting them lead the way.

It takes a long time to get home. Seongwha struggles a bit with his gills. He keeps panicking and swimming to the surface to breathe even though Wooyoung tells him he’s being ridiculous.

“He’s learning, baby,” San says. “He’ll get it. Give him time.”

Seonghwa’s tail isn’t as strong, either. He’s not used to swimming long distances and has to take frequent breaks. Overall it adds several hours to their journey, but it’s totally worth it to see the absolute delight on Seonghwa’s face every time he flicks his tail and glides through the water.

Once they arrive home there’s another obstacle before they can rest. Yeosang’s family still believes he’s dead. He hasn’t seen them in two months, and though he’s really too exhausted to explain everything to them, especially how he found Seonghwa, he doesn’t have much of a choice. Wooyoung and San’s cave isn’t big enough for all four of them, and Yeosang’s home, if he even still has a home, is a cave that’s practically next door to his parents.

It’s midday when Yeosang and Seonghwa break away from Wooyoung and San to approach his home, and his sister happens to be sitting at the entrance to his parents’ cave. Yeosang sees the blood drain from her face when she notices him. He waves at her.

“Hey, sis.”

“Hey, sis.  _ Hey, sis? _ How dare you just  _ hey, sis _ me! Where have you been? Wooyoung said you got eaten by a shark!”

“You know no shark could ever catch me,” he says, reaching for Seonghwa’s hand. He needs support to get through this. “I, uh, want you to meet someone.”

His sister glances over at Seonghwa, and she does a double take as she sees their matching tails. “No fucking way. You disappeared for two months for  _ a boy? _ Oh, mom and dad are not going to believe this.”

Before he can stop her she flits away into the cave, calling for their parents. He figures that’s probably fine. He should get this over with sooner rather than later.

Seonghwa clears his throat beside him, and Yeosang turns to find him looking almost as terrified as he had when he’d fallen on the island.

“I didn’t realize I’d be meeting your parents so soon. It’s… I don’t know if it’s the same for your people, but for us, meeting the parents is kind of a special thing.”

“Hey,” Yeosang says, squeezing Seonghwa’s hand. “It’s okay. There’s no getting around it really, but you have nothing to worry about. It’s me they’ll be mad at. They’re going to love you as much as I do.”

“It’s just that the whole tail and gills and stuff is all so new, and I know your people don’t trust us. I’m afraid-”

“Don’t be. You’re not a walker anymore. You’re one of us, and you’re mine. If they don’t accept you, we’ll just go somewhere else.”

“I couldn’t ask you to do that,” Seonghwa protests.

“You don’t have to. Seonghwa, I was ready to give up my tail for you. I was prepared to become a walker and live on land for the rest of my life just to be with you. Leaving this place… It’s not even a question.”

“Yeosang?” His head snaps to the side at the sound of his mother’s voice. “You’re… whole. You’re okay.”

“Yeah, mom. I’m fine.” She swims closer and runs her hands over his arms and touches his face. When she sees his hand wrapped around Seonghwa’s, she finally looks over at him, first examining his face and then his tail. “Mom, this is Seonghwa.”

“Your mate,” she says, and Yeosang blinks. He’d expected he’d have to explain about Seonghwa to his parents, but apparently it’s not necessary. “Hello, Seonghwa. It’s a pleasure to meet my baby’s mate. You must be ready to drop. Take him home, Yeosang. Get some rest. You can tell me all about it when you wake up.”

“But dad-”

“Will be ready to listen when you’re ready to talk. Go. Sleep. We’ll be here.”

Unable to argue with his mother, Yeosang nods and tugs at Seonghwa’s hand to lead him into the cave they’ll now be sharing.

“I know it’s small, but there’s plenty of room for the two of us,” he tells Seonghwa as they enter. There’s a bed of sand in one corner where Yeosang usually sleeps, and shelves lining the walls of the cave that he’d stolen from sunken ships. All of his walker artifacts are where he left them on the shelves, pieces broken off of statues and jewelry and coins he’d collected from the ocean floor.

“It’s cozy,” Seonghwa says, looking around at all of Yeosang’s treasures. “I like it. Let’s sleep.”

Three months later

“Yeosang, get out here. I can hear music already.”

It’s the full moon, and Yeosang’s parents are celebrating as they always have. His sister is already singing as he exits the cave, and he can see Wooyoung and San dancing. Well, sort of dancing. Since Yeosang has Seonghwa now, they don’t dance so much as they hold each other and rotate slowly as they kiss. Yeosang thinks it’s kind of disgusting, but Seonghwa seems to find it cute.

There’s a small band backing Yeosang’s sister up, and his parents are sitting on a rock, watching her sing and holding hands. His mother looks over and winks at Yeosang, making him blush, and he grabs Seonghwa’s wrist, pulling him out into the open water to dance.

Seonghwa had taken to their dancing quite well, and he frequently asks Yeosang to dance even when there isn’t any music. He likes to lead, showing off how strong his tail has gotten, how he can twirl them around with ease. He looks so happy when he’s holding Yeosang that it makes Yeosang’s heart feel so full it might burst.

To Yeosang’s relief, Seonghwa doesn’t often get homesick for the land. Occasionally he’ll talk about his walker friends, but mostly he just enjoys being here with Yeosang.

“Back on the island, I had almost given up hope of ever seeing them again. And then I found a new home with you, and I didn’t want to go back,” he’d explained.

Not everything is easy. Yeosang’s sister still hasn’t fully accepted Seonghwa. She tolerates him, but after learning that he used to be a walker she wouldn’t speak to Yeosang for a week. It hurts, but she is slowly warming up to Seonghwa. Yeosang knows that one day they’ll be as close as they used to be.

And Yeosang and Seonghwa are just happy that the myth turned out to be true, that the universe gave them a way to be together.

Seonghwa spins them around, and he leans forward to kiss Yeosang’s cheek. “Wait until the celebration is over and I get you back home,” he teases Yeosang, and Yeosang can feel how pink his cheeks are. Everyone can probably see it. He hides his face in Seonghwa’s chest, and Seonghwa laughs and tells him he’s cute.

Yeah, they’re happy, and they only fall more deeply in love every day they’re together.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it. Kudos and comments are always appreciated. You can yell at me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/bugarungus). Have a great day everyone!


End file.
